Silks

Silks, or handkerchiefs are a common prop used by magicians.

Tricks with them have been published as far back as Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot (1584).

Buatier de Kolta, the son of a silk merchant, created one of the first full silk routine around 1890, which was described in Later Magic by Hoffmann.

Silks are now sold in a wide variety of colors, patterns and sizes.

Some popular routines are:

• Blendo
• Twentieth Century Silk
• Silk in Balloon
• Silk through Cane
• Silk to Cane
• Color-Changing Silks
• Silk to Egg (Stodare Egg and Sucker Egg Trick)
• Sucker Silk
• Sympathetic Silks
• Slydini Silks (melting knots)
• Vanishing Silk

Books

• New Handkerchief Tricks by Ellis Stanyon (1900)
• Encyclopedia of Silk Magic by Harold Rice (1948)
• Self-Working Handkerchief Magic by Karl Fulves (1989)